This research program is designed to clarify the role played in the neural control of feeding by afferent, efferent and internuncial mechanisms at various levels of the avian brain. As a first step, studies of the spatio-temporal organization of individual feeding response sequences will be carried out using cinematographic analysis in order to identify the sensory determinants of the behavior. The patterning of individual responses into feeding bouts under the control of food deprivation will be studied under both long term and short term conditions of observation. Anatomical and electrophysiological techniques will be used to identify the relevant afferent pathways and nuclei involved in feeding behavior and the processing of these inputs. Comparable procedures will be used to analyze the efferent mechanisms involved. Neurobehavioral studies will analyze the deficits in feeding behavior seen with lesions of structures at various levels of this putative feeding system. Analysis of the neural control of feeding in the pigeon is intended to serve as a "model system" for the study of vertebrate feeding behavior mechanisms.